Venue: Sorbonne
Friday, 4 October: Sorbonne, amphithéâtre Lefebvre:
Entrance: 1, rue Victor Cousin (Sorbonne Square), Staircase/Escalier R, Galerie Jean-Baptiste Dumas
Saturday, 5 October (CHANGE OF VENUE!):Sorbonne, amphitéâtre Cauchy:
17, rue de la Sorbonne, Staircase/Escalier F, Galerie Richelieu
Conference languages: French and English (simultaneous translation)
One of the most important contributions of Rosa Luxemburg to modern Marxist thought is her refusal to separate the concepts of “democracy” and “revolution”. This approach is developed in a) her criticism of the limits of bourgeois democracy, b) her conception of the revolutionary struggle as democratic self-emancipation of the great masses, c) her vision of socialist democracy with the workers’ councils’ system as a possible form of “dictatorship of the proletariat”, and d) her firm insistence – in discussion with Russian revolutionaries – on the importance of democratic freedoms in the transition towards Socialism.
The conference will deal with the question of democracy in her writings on Marxism, on political economy and on the national question (self-administration and national autonomy as democratic solutions).
These are issues that remain relevant at the beginning of the 21st Century. The aim of the conference will be not only to analyze the historical aspects and the texts themselves, but also the political significance of these issues, in an epoch that sees a crisis of democracy within the context of crisis in capitalist civilization.
Conference organised and supported by:
Sorbonne, amphithéâtre Lefebvre
3pm – 5:30pm:
Panel Discussion 1:Presentation of New Editions of Rosa Luxemburg’s Work in German, English, and French
Jacqueline Bois (France), Peter Hudis (USA), Annelies Laschitza (Germany), Holger Politt (Germany/Poland), Eric Sevault (France)
5:30pm-6:30pm: informal reception
6:30pm-7pm: Opening of the Conference
Presidency: Elisabeth Gauthier (France)
Welcome speeches: Narihiko Ito (Japan), Evelin Wittich (Germany)
Panel Discussion 2: Development and Aspects of Luxemburg's Socialism Concept [7pm – 9pm]
Sorbonne, amphitéâtre Cauchy
10am – 12:15pm: Panel Discussion 3:Socialism and Democracy
12:15pm – 2pm: Lunch break
2pm – 4:15pm: Panel Discussion 4: Bourgeois Democracy, Revolutionary Democracy
4:15pm - 4:45pm: Break
4:45pm – 7pm: Panel Discussion 5:Rosa Luxemburg and Others
Please find the programme (pdf) on the right at "Documentation"